Hoe blade for endless chain cultivators



Oct. 17, 1950 G. E. JUDD 2,526,138

HOE BLADE FOR ENDLESS CHAIN CULTIVATORS Filed April 22, 1947 INVENTOR. Geozje .E'. Judd,

more particularly to a type Patented oer--1 1950;

HOE BLADE FOR ENDLESS CHAIN CULTIVATORS George E. Judd, Fort Myers, Fla. Application April 22, 1947', Serial No. 743.121"

This invention pertains to ahoe bladeand thereof arranged to be associated with an endless power means.

An object of the invention is the provision of an improved hoe blade. arranged to be pin-connected to asprocket chain;

Another object of the invention is the provision of a series ofimprovd hoe blades having parts thereof in overlapping relation so as to transmit stresses from one other. V

. A further object of the invention is the provision, in a hoe blade, of an upper portion thereof arranged t/o prevent dirt from reaching a driving sprocket chain to thus keep the chain free from clogging dirt.

These and numerous other objects will become apparent from the succeeding description of an exemplified form of Figure 'l is a more or less the present invention.

Figure 2 is an enlarged perspective-view of a hoe blade removed from the structure. of Figurel."

Figure 3 is a horizontal sectional view taken along the lines 3-3 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows. I

Figure 4 is a sectional view taken along the ,lines 4-4 of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

hoe blade to anthe invention illustrated in the accompanying drawing wherein: 7

diagrammatic par' tial side elevational View or a'structure embodying I '5 Claims. (Cl. 97-46) V Figure 5 is a sectional view taken along the linesE-b of Figure 2, looking in the direction of the arrows.

Referring now in detail to the drawing wherein like reference characters indicate like parts the numeral i is employed to designate,in a somewhat general manner, an arrangement having a series of related hoe blades la embodying the present invention. The hoe blade illustrated in the accompanying drawing is particularly adaptable for use with the cultivator illustrated, described and claimed in my co-pending application Serial Number 670,445, filed May 17, 1946, now Patentllo. 2,514,766, issued July 11, 1950. Accordingly, as taught by my co-pending application, a sprocket wheel 2 functioning as a powe'rmeans and support for an endless belt represented herein by an ordinary commercial form of sprocket chain 3; the latter being made up of a series of skeletonized links l joined together by means of ordinary pivot pins 5. The chain, as taught by the drawing, is trained over or partially around ously indicated, the hubs the construction contemplates the use of nections 5b are each hoe blade are in the sprocket wheel illustrated and another pulley or sprocket wheel not shown but which is clearly understood; 1 g

In accordance with the presently contemplated practice it is intended to associate the hoe blade of the present invention with alternate link joints so that a hoe blade is'pin-connected to connections 5a of the sprocket chain while the confree of hoe blades as clearly illustrated in Figure 1 of the drawing. Each hoeblade is formed by a buffer or barrier lb extending downwardly from a horizontal part of the sprocket chain at an acute angle with the included angle measuring in the neighborhood of fifty-five degrees sorthat among other reasons hereinafter made apparent'the bending moment of the buffer as it passes through the earth will be minimized as well as present an inclined surface off of which the earth may slide. The buffer of each hoe blade is made of a width appreciably wider than the sprocket chain so that the former may disturb an appreciable path through the earth and thus disturb an appreciable amount of dirt. The upper extremity of each buffer terminates in hubs or hinge ears 6 spaced transversely of the buifer and upstanding therefrom into a horizontally extended area of the sprocket chain. The hubs of alignment with a pivot pin 5a and are sleeved thereover to utilize the sprocket chain pin 5a to form a pivotal connection between the hoe blade and sprocket chain. The pivot pinsfia are for this reason made or formed longer than the pivot pins 51). As previare formed as integral parts of the buffer but if preferred or desired the hinge ears may be formed as individual parts and welded to other hereinafter described components of the hoe blade.

Forming a roof or top shield of each hoe blade is a lead plate I of approximately the same width as the buffer and extending in substantially a horizontal direction blade in its normal earth disturbing position. The lead plate of each hoe blade extends -forwardly from a related extremity'of an associated buffer by an amount'excessive of adjacent pivot pins 5a and 52) so that the lead plates will overlap, the chain pivotal connections formed by or at the pivot pins 512. Thus each lead plate is, arranged to prevent displaced or disturbed earth from reaching that portion of the sprocket chain immediately thereabove. The rear when considering the hoe the distance between edge of each lead plate is cut out such as at 8 so as wardly beyond the hinge ears. ployed to make the buffer and integral part.

Functioning as a part of the roof or top shield of each hoe blade is a rearwardly extending horizontally disposed trailing plate l9. This trailing plate is of substantially the same width as the lead plate and has its front part milled out to accommodate the hinge ears and so as to extend forwardly to underlie the lead plate. Welds II are applied to the hinge hubs, lead and trailing plates to form an integral rugged unit. As will be noted by viewing particularly Figure 1 of the drawing, the trailing plate has its rear extremity positioned well beyond the vertical plane of the sprocket chain link connection b and thus the trailing plate of one hoe blade underlies or underlaps the lead plate of an immediately following hoe blade. By this arrangement the lead plate of one hoe blade, as the latter passes through the ground, will be urged in a counterclockwise direction about its pivot pin by virtue of the resistance offered by the related buffer. However, since each lead plate overlies a related subjacent trailing plate the latter will function as a support for the lead plate and resist such tendency of the lead plate to turn about its pivot pin 5a. This arrangement will neutralize the forces between related hoe blades andrelieve the sprocket chain of any abnormal stresses. Further, this arrangement is designed to concentrate all the stresses in the hinge pins and the latter are designed to overcome or sustain such stresses.

Extending forwardly from a lower extremity of each buifer is a normally horizontally disposed lifter or cutter l2 desirably and in substantially parallel relation to its companion lead plate. Actually the included angle between a transverse edge !3 of the cutter and the related edge M of the buffer is equal to the included angle between the back of the buffer and its companion trailing plate so that the transverse edges is and Ilia of the cutter are parallel with the lead and trailing plates. This arrangement is most desirable because as a hoe blade comes around the sprocket wheel and digs its way into the soil the buffer plate will be disposed at an acute angle to the line of force and thus relieve it somewhat of bending stresses as will be clearly understood. So as to impart a lifting force to the earth severed by the cutter the latter is desirably made inverted V-shape in horizontal section (see Figure 4) with the angle X of the V increasing from practically zero at the forward edge Hi ,to approximately one hundred and twenty degrees at its base where it merges with the buffer. Thus the cutter is formed with divergent shedding sides It capable of moving dirt toward the edges I3 and [3a thereof.

In order to function as a true cutter the latter has its leading edge It formed, in plan, V- shaped and also undercut as at 11 and thus as the cutter is moved through the dirt or earth it will effect a slicing action and be prevented from digging or tending to dig deeper into the earth than its predetermined depth of travel. If the leading edge tends to move vertically in any direction it will, by virtue of the undercut, tend to move upwardly but, however, this force if it exists will be overcome by the load against the buifer.

From the above it will be noted that various changes and alterations may be made to the illustrated and described construction without Welds 9 are emlead plate as an 4 departing from the spirit of the invention and scope of the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The combination with a sprocket chain having a series of pin-connected links, of a plurality of hoe blades, each of said hoe blades comprising forwardly and rearwardly extending plates pin-connected to a related link and arranged so that a rearwardly extending plate of one blade will underlie a forwardly extending plate of a related blade, a bufier extending downwardly from said plates and arranged at an oblique angle to said forwardly extending plate, and an inverted V-shaped cutter extending from a lower extremity of said buffer in substantial parallel relation to said forwardly extending plate.

2. The combination with a sprocket chain having a series of pin-connected links, of a plurality of hoe blades, each of said hoe blades comprising a trailing and lead plate having hinge lugs arranged to utilize the pin connection of said links, a trailing plate of one hoe blade arranged to overlap and underlie a lead plate of an associated following hoe blade, a buffer extending downwardly from adjacent an area of said hinge lugs and at an acute angle to said lead plate, a cutter extending forwardly from adjacent a lower edge of said buffer and being disposed substantially parallel to said lead plate; said cutter being of inverted V-shape in cross section.

3. The combination with a sprocket chain having a series of pin-connected links, of a plu-- rality of hoe blades, each of said hoe blades comprising a trailing and lead plate having hinge lugs arranged to utilize the pin connection of said links, a trailing plate of one hoe blade arranged to overlap and underlie a lead plate of an associated following hoe blade, a buffer extending downwardly from adjacent an area of said hinge lugs and at an acute angle to said lead plate, a cutter extending forwardly from ad- .than said chain jacent a lower edge of said buffer and being disposed substantially parallel to said lead plate; said cutter being of inverted V-shape in cross section, and a leading edge of said cutter being V-shaped in plan.

4. The combination with a sprocket chain having a series of pin-connected links, of a plurality of hoe blades, each of said hoe blades comprising a trailing and lead plate of a width greater and having hinge lugs straddling said chain to utilize the pin connection of said links, said trailing plate being arranged to underhe a following associated lead plate, a buffer extending downwardly from said plate substantially in alignment with said hinge lugs, a lower extremit of said bufier terminating in a substantially horizontal cutter; said buifer and cutter being of a'width approximating the width of said plates, and said cutter having an undercut leading edge V-shaped in plan.

5. The combination with a sprocket chain having a series of pin-connected links, of a plurality of hoe blades, each of said hoe blades comprising a trailing and lead plate of a width greater than said chain and having hinge lugs straddling said chain to utilize the pin connection of said links, a buffer extending downwardly from said plates in substantial alignment with said hinge lugs and being arranged at an acute angle relative to said lead plate, a lower extremity of said buffer terminating in a cutter extending substantially parallel to said lead plate and having oppositely and downwardly sloping faces, and a forward edge of said cutter being Number undercut and of V-shape in plan. 1 037 355 GEORGE E. JUDD. 1080993 V 5 J REFERENCES CITED 2,044,91 The following references are of record in the Number file of this patent:

6 UNITED STATES PATENTS Name Date Stanza Sept. 3, 1912 Nagel Dec. 9, 1913 Schmeiser June 23, 1936 FOREIGN PATENTS Country Date France; Feb. 18. 1929. 

